


Saying Goodbye

by bushViperCutie



Series: Original Works (Poems and Stories) [4]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:15:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25461550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bushViperCutie/pseuds/bushViperCutie
Summary: A short story assignment for schoolObjective: Dialogue Driven
Series: Original Works (Poems and Stories) [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1833304
Kudos: 3





	Saying Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

> A short story assignment for school
> 
> Objective: Dialogue Driven

#  **~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~**

“Two hundred, Jack. I ain’t goin’ higher," he leaned forward on the rickety chair.

“Well I’m not selling it for half a night’s stay at a hotel. You buy for double or nothing.”

“What you need that much for, Jack? We’re brothers, been brothers for half your life, Jack.”

“I’m not going lower.”

“You aren’t even gonna tell me? Why’re you so willing to screw me over like that?”

“If that’s a no – ”

“What you need the money for?”

“Rick. Please.”

“It’s for my girl, ain’t it, Jack. Ain’t it.”

“Four twenty, alright? That better?”

“I knew I knew it. I knew since the day you laid eyes on her, I knew it.”

“She isn’t your girl. She never was, Rick. She – ”

“Yes she was, Jack. I never told you but she was, back then by the river where you found her. Up until you found her.”

“What you mean.”

“I mean she was sweet on me and took every flower I ever gave to her. I told her – ”

“Taking flowers isn’t the same – ”

“An’ she kissed me. An’ I kissed her back. Then I had to leave, that’s why she was ‘lone that day by the river. When you told me you met her, Jack, I knew that was that. And it was.”

“Four hundred. Take the car and leave. You left once you can do it again.”

“You’re takin’ the money and leaving town too, aren’t you? With Dianne.”

“Her brother’s lowering rent first month. Plenty of jobs open over there too.”

There was a howl out yonder and the tap tap of tears on the lid of the half empty can. The warm wind blew the sign above making it creak with every swing.

“I ain’t need the car if you’re taking Dianne.”

“This town is dead. Dead as the river, as the ground, as the markets. There isn’t anything here for you after I leave.”

“I can’t go back to Suzie’s, Jack. Her new baby’s taking the old room an’ I can’t intrude on them like that. Two hundred. For taking my Dianne.”

“I can’t sell it for that much, Rick. I wish I could, but I need to make rent and there hasn’t been jobs here in over two months. If I bend like that it’ll break me.”

“I wish you’d never dropped out of that school. Then we’d both be happy. I’d have my Dianne an’ you’d have some other girl with as much brains as you’ve got.”

“Might as well wish your sister never got pregnant. Or that that Sam never left her. Then you’d have Dianne even after I dropped out.”

“No. I wish that woulda been true. She was yours the second you laid eyes on her ‘cause she laid eyes on you too.”

“Don’t think that, Rick. I can’t have you thinking that. She wasn’t even looking my way for several weeks.”

“Weeks? That all it took? Keep your car. I’m staying here to die with the rest of the town. An’ don’t be sending me any letters about how great it is in the city. No happy healthy nothings. You can tell me how rotten it smells and that’s that.”

A man in the distance hurled over the redberry bushes and slumped to the side, passing out under the moon’s disapproving glare. The lamp light flickered behind them like a ticking clock, blinking at the passing seconds.

“Three hundred, Rick. That’s fifty under what I need, and I can leave tomorrow morning. Get out of your way," he looked out towards the end of town.

“I'll pay you your four hundred. Anything to stop seeing your ugly smile ‘round here.”

#  **~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~**


End file.
